On the Other Side of the Rainbow
by Blue Jeans
Summary: What happens when you love someone, and they become something greater and are no longer yours alone?


"What happens  
When you love someone  
And they become a part of something greater  
And are no longer yours alone?  
What happens  
When you have to learn to share a treasure  
You once thought was yours alone?  
What happens  
When you feel like you're standing at the edge of   
the world  
And the jewel shining in your hands  
Turns into a bird with angel wings...  
Flying into the infinite tomorrow?"  
  
  
.On the Other Side of the Rainbow.  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
.blue.  
  
  
The moment came upon him like a needle prick, unexpected   
and swift. The danger had always been there as he had helped   
build a world around her, and now the needle pricked him,   
startling him into reality. It was hard to comprehend why the   
cloth world was no longer enough for her, but it was the truth.  
  
A warm hand gripped his, fingers laced.  
  
Tightening.  
  
They say that trying to capture something because the   
love you have for it is so intense that it hurts should not be   
done. They say that clinging to the past, to the memories, to   
the present at the beauty you want to hold to your heart, is not   
wise; that when you try too hard to allow that part of you to   
become something that was never really yours will only get you   
hurt. Yet loving something makes one selfish, and it makes one   
want to hold onto it with both hands tightly; to hold it in your   
heart and hands and arms forever. To protect, to cherish,   
because there is a part of you that is sure no one and nothing   
else can love as you love, and fearing that they might...  
  
But these feelings become part of you as well, a part of   
your love, when you have watched the one you love grow. Watching   
them become a stranger, and yet, at the same time, so familiar.   
This pain, this love, is like the drop of blood forming upon the   
wound too small to see, a red tear drop upon the skin, vivid and   
unforgettable.  
  
"So, this is the tomorrow we always feared, ne?" She   
asked him as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Her hand   
brushing against his chest, so near and so far from his heart.   
It did not stop pounding from the pain, but her presence eased   
the pain ever so slightly.  
  
"I still remember that first step," he smiled at the   
memories. Golden and light, brilliantly and just in reach of his   
hands.  
  
"I remember the first time my arms wrapped around our   
little miracle," she agreed and sighed. Wrapping her free arm   
around his waist, as a measure of assurance to him and herself as   
well.  
  
"I can't believe how all the days passed," he draped his   
arm around her.  
  
The sakura blossoms fell around them. The place where   
they first joined hands, the place they made the promise of   
forever, and here they are. Returning to memories of comfort and   
happiness, adjusting to another challenge, another surprise in   
their shared lives.  
  
"Have you ever suspected this?" She asked him.  
  
"For awhile," he admitted. "Everything was changing for   
all of us, but there were things that were different in the last   
few years."  
  
"Yes, changes," she agreed as she closed her eyes. Her   
long hair cascading down her shoulders, reminding him of the   
first time he saw her and the first time he got up the courage to   
run his fingers through it. All these years, gone, lived and   
loved.  
  
"Are you scared?" She asked suddenly. Breaking the   
silence, blue eyes met his and he saw all the uncertainties   
there. All the fears and sadness and everything that made her   
what she was today, and everything he loved her for.  
  
She was a part of him.  
  
His felt his heart beat against her hand, never caged and   
always freed by her love. "Yes," he answered and touched her   
chin, "but it's good to know that we did something right all this   
time." He smiled at her and she smiled back to him, trembling in   
his arms, and yet the rock of his world. "After all, not just   
anyone can say that they were the people who raised their   
daughter to be Sailor Moon, savior of mankind."  
  
She laughed.  
  
The laughter of tears and joy. The laugh she gave the   
first time he asked her to marry him, the first time they held   
little Tuskino Usagi, and later, Tuskino Shingo, in their arms.   
It was the laugh she had when Usagi brought her roses with Shingo   
sleeping in her embrace. The laugh she had when Usagi took her   
first step and Shingo said his first word.  
  
Her eyes sparkled into his own, reminding him of all the   
years they shared. The arguments, the joys, the celebrations,  
the tears and the triumphs. He held her hands, fingers laced, and   
kissed her softly.  
  
No words need to be spoken, they knew the truth.  
  
Their daughter was a woman now, and she made her choices,   
not all of them necessarily right; but they know that she tries,   
and that she has become a strong and beautiful woman. Shingo was   
grown, handling the sudden change in his sister's status   
beautifully; treating her with the same spirit as before, making   
sure that Usagi didn't lose herself in the publicity of it all.   
Both children were growing into the people they've been working   
hard to make them become. It was enough.  
  
It hurts to love.  
  
To set those you love free into the infinite tomorrow.   
Taking the blows of life on their own instead of having you there   
to shield them from the pain. Yet the day had come to let go and   
watch their children spread their wings and lift from the earth   
into the sky to build their own haven against the storm. And for  
once, to find their own sunlight and bask fully in the joys and  
pains of their own creations.  
  
He smiled as he pulled back.  
  
"Kenji--" her eyes sparkled with laughter.  
  
"Shhh, Ikuko," he rested his forehead to hers. "We're on   
the other side of the rainbow after all."  
  
She smiled, "Yes," she answered at last. "We are on the   
other side of the rainbow," she echoed.  
  
The butterflies fluttered freely above the green grasses,   
a rainbow against the blue transparent sky; a mirage of the past,   
building a path into the future; the future made by a kaleidoscope   
of emotions at the end of the rainbow.  
  
  
.The End.  
  
  
.blue.  
blueweber@hotmail.com  
  
I always wondered how Usagi's parents reacted  
to her being what she was, especially after  
my editor pointed out that I was making them  
into the generic cardboard background prop  
that everyone else uses them for. This is for  
anyone who has had to watch someone they love   
grow, and have to let go.  
  
For my wonderful editor :) You know who you  
are ^_~  
  
.blue.  
blueweber@hotmail.com  



End file.
